It is a tag that the 21-year-old will tonight take back to a club that will always hold a special place in his heart in St Mirren.

Just 12 months ago Dummett, who grew up in Gosforth and attended Kenton School, knew that he needed to make a move away from United in order to gain first-team experience.

The versatile defender has been on the fringes of the United first-team squad in the last two summers, touring the United States in 2011, Portugal last year and this pre-season he has played more minutes than the majority of the entire first-team squad.

United, who have recently been awarded Category One status for their Academy, are eager to turn to the local grassroots scene to recruit new talent.

When asked if Dummett was the pride of the Academy, Pardew told the Chronicle: “Yes not just for us at the first team end, but for our whole Academy. We’ve focused our Academy on local players rather than searching the world for talent.

“We are now focusing very much in our area. I think it is an important message for our fans. That’s the instruction from myself, Joe Kinnear and Mike Ashley.

“We want to maximise what’s in our area. Therefore to have Dummett come out of the pack is brilliant for everybody.”

Indeed, just a few acres across the fields of Little Benton where Newcastle’s youth set-up is based, lies the club’s Academy canteen.

Each day as the next young hopeful makes passes through the corridors for lunch they must walk past a hall of fame of first-team graduates.

Pardew feels verybody at the Academy should take credit for Dummett’s progress. He said: “All our coaches should be proud. Everybody works so hard down there. The coaches, the sports science people, the lady in the canteen too. It is brilliant for them to see somebody on the threshold of the first team.”

Dummett’s future didn’t look so certain until he was loaned to St Mirren last term. There he excelled by playing SPL games and helped St Mirren win the League Cup when they beat Hearts 3-2.

Pardew said the reports of Dummett’s progress became so good that he found it difficult to ignore the youngster. He said: “We kept getting reports from Scotland that this kid was good.

“I sent John Carver and Stoney (Steve Stone) to watch him play Celtic. Obviously that is a game that is Premier League standard.

“He was the best player on the pitch. That really triggered my mind. That was a case of ‘Wow, in pre-season we must have a good look at this guy’.

“And he hasn’t let us down. He is everything we seen in the Celtic game. Hopefully he continues it.”

Pardew is now toying on retaining Dummett in his squad this season.

With the Welsh Under-21 player able to play right-back or left-back and with defensive options such as James Perch and Danny Simpson now gone, Dummett is closer than ever to the action.

Pardew said: “For a player to break in past a Santon or a Jonas, they have to break in, and they have to believe in their ability.

“You can sense it in him. He is starting to believe he is as good as them. That then makes him a contender.”

And while Hatem Ben Arfa, Papiss Cisse and Fabricio Coloccini will all be on show this evening, there will be plenty of eyes on exciting young full-back Dummett.